370 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:9— Dec, 1919 



hairs standing out from the upper sides of each toe. The palm 

 as might be expected, is broad and flat. 



In walking in soft ground the claws curve upward but do not 

 bother him much. But put him on a board or cement walk and he 

 must turn his feet outward and walk on his wrists to get along. 

 Let him loose in the garden and you will see how he uses these huge 

 nails. No, you won't either! A half dozen rapid movements 

 accompanied by a shower of dirt and half of your prisoner is hidden 

 by Mother Earth. How did he do it ? Those claws work with all 

 the precision and effectiveness of a steam shovel, but far more 

 expeditiously. The only difference is that they scrape downward 

 and backward, pushing the dirt under the body, giving to the hind 

 feet which are also armed but with smaller claws, the task of 

 pushing it back of him. 



There is another point of his exterior anatomy that looks inter- 

 esting, but it is too close to those fierce looking front teeth to make 

 investigation. You had best visit a museum specimen for that. 

 There you will see that these teeth are four in number and protrude 

 from his furry lips in a fashion that proclaims that no dentist ever 

 put a gold harness on his too prominent incisors. Each of his two 

 upper teeth bear two lengthwise grooves which is his identification 

 mark in this rogue's gallery. He is known as Geomys bursarius or 

 pocket gopher. The name leads you to examine him still more 

 closely. Again you find some peculiar whims in his physical 

 make up. On each side of his mouth is a queer fold that you 

 noticed on your living specimen. Use the eyes in the tips of your 

 fingers and you will find these folds are the outer edges of a pair of 

 pockets, one on each cheek; they extend back to his shoulders and 

 are an inch and a half broad ; they have a fur inside as well as out- 

 side and have no other opening than this one on his cheek. Does 

 he carry dirt in them? That shower behind his legs shakes that 

 hypothesis, unless he carries it out of his burrow in them. More 

 use for your dingy suit and more wearisome waiting. 



Muscles are so tired that you positively cannot be quiet another 

 instant when a mass of soft dirt begains to emerge from this open 

 mound. It is being pushed by his forefeet being held sidewise. 

 Eyes appear above the stuiace. You are sighted. No more work 

 at the opening this morning. After waiting in vain you go home 

 to dinner and return to renew yoiu- vigil only to find the opening 

 carefully closed full of soil and a fresh mound some six feet farther 



